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The Indian Army condemns The Print’s factually incorrect report

Shekhar Gupta’s The Print, which has been called out in the past for romanticising treason and spinning sensational stories about the Chinese aggression in Doklam, today got called out by the Indian Army for wrongly citing that a note was written by the Indian Army.


In the article titled ‘Army fears US could leak data to Pakistan if India-US sign military secrecy pact’, The Print mentions that the Indian Army has written a note to the government asking if it would be wise to sign the COMCASA (Communications Compatibility and Security Agreement), which means to provide the legal framework for the transfer of communication security equipment from the US to India that would facilitate “interoperability” between their forces — and potentially with other militaries that use US-origin systems for secured data links.

Refuting the claims, the Indian Army, through the Twitter handle of Additional Directorate General of Public Information (ADG PI) said that the above reference by The Print is incorrect and that the Indian Army has not written any such note to the government.

Earlier, in January, OpIndia had called out how The Print had repeated on the oft-repeated lie on the Doklam stand-off. In the article, the author had put across various insinuations and omitted information and assertions which were far from the truth. But then, the fruit doesn’t fall far from the tree. Prior to starting The Print, when Shekhar Gupta was the Editor-in-chief of Indian Express in 2012, he had written series of articles where he had claimed that the Indian Army was making ‘unauthorised troop movements’ towards the capital and the Raisina Hill (which houses the Home Ministry) was ‘spooked’. This baseless news also earned Gupta the monicker of ‘Coupta’.

Meet the real Imran Khan: The poster boy of Indian ‘liberals’ and almost certainly, Pakistan’s next PM

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The apparent victory of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) Imran Khan, as the new Prime Minister of Pakistan is being hailed by the “left-liberals” in India as a victory against the “Right”, since he beat the alliance of Lashkar-e-Toiba chief and 26/11 mastermind Hafiz Saeed who was backing about 200 candidates under the banner Allah-O-Akbar Tehreek (AAT). In fact, he had expressed how he and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal are similar.


Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal had also shared how he and Khan are challenging the status quo in their respective countries.


Of course, as an exemplary cricketer, how hard could it be for him to run a country, as volatile as Pakistan.


Pakistani journalist Mehr Tarar, who was accused by Congress MP Shashi Tharoor’s wife Sunanda Pushkar of stalking her husband, too joined in the chorus of welcoming Imran Khan as the new Prime Minister.


Nehru fangirl, too, joined in, getting excited at the prospect of ‘glamour’ in the neighbourhood.


Too bad she didn’t find India’s Imran Khan equivalent ‘glamorous’ enough when Kejriwal won Delhi elections in 2015.


Jokes apart, what exactly does having Imran Khan, the politician, not the ‘legendary cricketer’, as the Prime Minister next door mean?

Founding PTI in 1996, in last few years, Imran Khan has shown his soft stand towards terrorism and terrorists in Pakistan. In June 2013, when a US drone strike killed Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan’s deputy chief Waliur Rehman Mehsud, Khan stirred controversy by referring to him as ‘pro-peace’.


Rahman carried a bounty of USD 5 million on his head and was accused of organising attacks against the US and Nato forces in Afghanistan. He was also wanted in connection with a suicide attack on an American base in Afghanistan in 2009 that killed seven CIA agents.

Later, he even suggested that Pakistani Taliban should be allowed to ‘open an office’ in Pakistan to facilitate peace talks. That’s not all. Imran Khan was also Taliban’s pick as peace talk mediator with Nawaz Sharif government.

In 2012 he had even said that Taliban’s ‘holy war’ in Afghanistan is justified by Islamic law while visiting the hospital where Malala Yusufzai was treated a week prior. Malala, then a schoolgirl, was shot in the head by the Taliban in Swat valley of Pakistan in October 2012 for writing against the atrocities of Taliban in Swat Valley of Pakistan.

Imran Khan has proved time and again that he is a terrorist sympathiser.


In the above-undated video, a Pakistani journalist Waseem Badami is asking Khan what his views on Osama Bin Laden, former Al Qaeda chief who was killed by the US in Pakistan’s Abbottabad. First Imran Khan says one who is terrorist for one is a freedom fighter for other. To justify Osama’s terror activities, he cites the example of George Washington and says, for the British, he was a terrorist while a freedom fighter for Americans. When further probed what does he think about Osama, Imran Khan said he would not like to comment on that.

Khan has also embraced extreme religious views and promised to uphold the strict blasphemy laws in Pakistan which mandates the death penalty for any “imputation, insinuation or innuendo” against the prophet Muhammad. In fact, his manifesto also states that he wants to make Pakistan an Islamic welfare state.

Khan’s views on feminism are also every “left-liberal’s” nightmare. He has said he disagrees with the Western ‘feminist movement’ and that the movement has contributed to ‘degrading’ motherhood. Not just that, Khan has also been accused of sexual harassment by PTI worker for ‘highly indecent’ conduct and ‘sending objectionable’ messages.

His former wife Reham Khan, too, has levelled accusations of sexual harassment against Khan in her autobiography. As per reports, there are instances of rampant sexual coercion and use of sexual favours within the ranks of PTI, including some directly related to Imran Khan. His former wife Reham Khan has called out Imran Khan on multiple occasions and called him ‘fake’ and a ‘hypocrite who would do anything to get power’.

Even as the Pakistan election are still to be declared, Imran Khan’s PTI seems to be emerging as a major party, winning 28 out of the 40 seats where results are declared. Meanwhile, the Indian liberals are elated at the prospect of having an Islamist, anti-feminist, terror-sympathiser Prime Minister for the neighbour.

Judging by the views held by Imran Khan, at best, he can be termed as ‘clean-shaved Taliban’. It is intriguing that the “liberals” in India have taken such a liking towards Taliban Khan, all the while preaching about how India could turn into “Hindu Taliban”. It is therefore evident that the “liberals” don’t hate Taliban, they just hate Hindus.

Congress MLC’s personal assistant arrested in connection with Gauri Lankesh’s murder : Reports

The murder of journalist Gauri Lankesh in September last year had caused a furore in the country. The state government then led by Congress had formed a Special Investigation team to investigate the murder.

In a series of events, now SIT has arrested the personal assistant of a Congress MLC from Kodagu district in relation with the murder of Gauri Lankesh. The Special Investigative Team has arrested Rajesh D Bangera, the tenth accused in connection with Gauri Lankesh murder. Bangera, a resident of Palooru in Kodagu, was working as a personal assistant to Kodagu MLC Veena Achaiah. He had also worked as an official in the Education Department and later worked as a personal assistant to Zilla Panchayat official Sherin Subbaiah.

The MLC’s office in reaction to the arrests said, “On July 23, the MLC’s office was not opened even after 12 noon. The people informed the MLC about it. Later, I opened the door. We did not have any information about Bangera. I learnt about his arrest only after watching TV on Tuesday night.”

It is reported that Bangera has confessed before the Special Investigative Team (SIT), that he had trained Parashuram Waghmare to use firearms and also supplied bullets to the alleged killers. The SIT had arrested him on July 23 and has requested to be remanded him for a 13-day judicial custody.

Bangera reportedly was earlier a member of Sanatan Sanstha and had left the organisation after getting a government job. It is reported that Bangera has confessed before the SIT regarding his involvement in supplying the arms to the accused. The SIT has submitted the confessions to the court in a sealed cover.

The Special Investigation team said that Bangera had two gun licenses and was also well trained in shooting. According to SIT, Bangera had close ties with the accused Amol Kale and others. “He has confessed to having procured and supplied 20 live bullets to the team that is behind Gauri’s murder”, the SIT said. Prior to that, he had admitted of training Parashuram Waghmare, Ganesh Miskin and others associated with the outfit in firing. The training sessions were held at several places in Karnataka and Maharashtra.

The police had made the first arrest in March this year when they had arrested KT Naveen Kumar, founder of Hindu Yuva Sene. The SIT had also suspected Amol Kale and Nihal alias Dada could be the masterminds behind the murder of the journalist. Another accused Manohar Yadave, who is in police custody, confessed that he had regularly updated the movements of Gauri Lankesh to both Kale and Dada. Along with them, the police have also arrested Sujith Kumar alias Praveen, Mohan Nayak, Amit Degwekar and Parashuram Waghmare.

The SIT had hit a roadblock recently, when the accused Parashuram Waghmare, the man who allegedly open fired at Gauri Lankesh refused to confess to the crime before the magistrate. Another significant cause of worry for the SIT is that the first accused arrested, KT Naveen Kumar, has claimed innocence and agreed to undergo a narco-analysis test to prove the same.

Indrajit Lankesh, brother of Gauri Lankesh had earlier accused the former Chief Minister of Siddaramaiah of his sister’s death. He had accused the former Congress leader of neglecting her security despite having threats on her life.

Congress spokesperson openly abuses news anchor after his hypocrisy is called out

Congress spokesperson Rajiv Tyagi has been recorded on live TV hurling abuses at news anchor Amish Devgan when he was called out for his selective outrage over lynchings in India.

As per a footage released by the News18 anchor, the Congress spokesperson during a debate on mob lynching is seen condescendingly accusing Devgan of pitting Hindus against Muslim. Tyagi then started praising himself by stating that he was making brilliant points, which he claimed was a contrast to Devgan’s anchoring.

Devgan decided not to take it lying down and accused the Congress of hypocrisy by claiming that, none of its leaders had spoken about Dalit youth Khetaram Bheel – who is reported to have been killed for having a relationship with a Muslim girl.

The Congress spokesperson though refused to concede his ground and accused the anchor of sowing seeds of discord within the country. Devgan promptly retorted by stating that the country is currently bearing the brunt of the seeds which were sown by the Congress.

Following this, the Congress spokesperson decided to get personal and started casting aspersions on Devgan’s journalism and even called him a “Dalal“. When Devgan asked him to stop making threats, Tyagi shockingly started abusing him by calling him a Bhadwa (Pimp).

After Devgan asked him to control his language the spokesperson brazened it out by refusing to stop and, continued his abuse. A clip capturing the abuse was uploaded by BJP spokesperson Suresh Nakhua:


Incidentally, Tyagi had also been in the news when he had chanted “Allah hu Akbar” on live television in a bid to get a Muslim cleric to chant “Jai Sri Ram” to prove to the composite nature of the Congress and with the extension the Indian society. He failed in his pursuit as the cleric refused to do so, despite being urged by many other participants:
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6U-U-ivjxU]

It remains to be seen whether Congress president Rahul Gandhi takes note of the hateful abuses by his spokesperson and takes action against him.

16,000 NGOs deregistered, FCRA license of 13,000 NGOs cancelled since 2014: Kiren Rijiju in Rajya Sabha

The Government of India has banned nearly 19,000 NGOs in the country since 2011 from receiving any foreign funds by cancelling FCRA registration.

Minister of State for Home Affairs, Kiren Rijiju told the House that the number of NGOs registered in the country has reduced from 40,000 in 2014-15 to around 24,000 today. The government has also cancelled FCRA licences of more than 13,000 NGOs which are operating in the country in the last 3 years.


Kiren Rijiju also said that 2,547 NGOs have failed to follow the order issued by the government to submit their annual returns on both income and expenditure. The NGOs should also submit the receipts of funds they receive from abroad and other balance sheets regarding their financial activities.

The Minister replied in Rajya Sabha to a written question, “Registration of 18,864 Foreign Contribution Regulation Act registered associations and institutions have been cancelled from 2011 till now and they have been barred from receiving foreign funds.”

He also said that the total funds received by NGOs and other voluntary organizations present in the country saw a decrease from 17,799 crores in 2015-16 to 15,329 crore in 2016-17.


The Narendra Modi government, soon after coming to power, began a process of scrutinizing foreign-funded NGOs in the country. The government has followed a meticulous process when it comes to FCRA rules compliance. A report by CBI in 2015, had revealed that there are more than 31 lakh NGOs operating in the country which received their funds either from the government or from abroad, only a paltry 10% had filed their balance sheet.

Last year, the government had revoked the FCRA registration of prominent Indian institutions like the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), Delhi University, Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) and IIT-Delhi for failing to file returns of past 5 years.

Prime Minister Modi’s diplomacy : Visits to countries long forgotten by the Congress government

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday arrived in Rwanda on the first leg of his three-nation Africa tour as part of India’s outreach to the resource-rich continent, becoming the first Indian premier to visit the East African country. His two-day state visit to Rwanda, one of Africa’s fastest-growing economies, is symbolic as this is the first ever by an Indian Prime Minister.

As the Prime Minister’s aircraft landed at the Kigali International Airport, he was received by President of Rwanda Paul Kagame and accorded a red carpet welcome at the airport.

Along with the defence cooperation agreement which is expected to be signed between India and Rwanda during the visit, we expect to conclude two lines of credit: one of USD 100 million for development of industrial parks and Kigali special economic zone (SEZ), and another one for USD 100 million for agriculture and irrigation,” said TS Tirumurti, secretary (Economic Relations) in the Ministry of External Affairs.

He further confirmed that an important element of the programme would be the Prime Minister’s visit to Rweru Model Village where he will gift 200 cows as a contribution from India to the ‘Girinka’ scheme of Rwanda.

Under ‘Girinka’, a social protection scheme of the Rwandan government personally overseen by President Kagame, poorest families are gifted dairy cows by the government and the first female calf born to the cow is gifted to the neighbour, thus promoting brotherhood and solidarity.

As of July 2018, Narendra Modi has made 39 foreign trips on six continents, visiting 57 countries, since he became the PM of India in 2014. Narendra Modi has set several records since 2014 general elections. Apart from leading the Bharatiya Janata Party to the first parliamentary majority by a single party since 1984, he became the first Indian born in independent India to become the Prime Minister.

Since then the PM has been working relentlessly, commendably travelling to countries and cities that no preceding Indian head of state had bothered to visit in decades.

In 2014, as soon as he was elected, Modi took a trip to Fiji, a first by an Indian Prime Minister in 33 years. Modi visited Australia in November 2014 becoming the first to visit the country since Rajiv Gandhi in 1986. In the same year, he became the first to visit Nepal in 17 years when he landed in Kathmandu in August 2014. Accompanied by a 101-member delegation, Modi was the first foreign leader to address the Constituent Assembly of Nepal.

In May 2015, Modi became the first Indian Prime Minister to visit Mongolia. During the trip, he announced that India will extend a $1-billion credit line to the mineral-rich country. This was widely seen as India’s attempt to strengthen its influence in China’s backyard. Later that year, Modi became the first Indian Prime Minister to visit Israel.

The same year, Modi made a stopover in Ireland before his US visit, marking the first visit by an Indian PM to the country in around 60 years. Jawaharlal Nehru was the last Indian prime minister to visit Ireland in 1956. The PM’s visit to Canada in April 2015 was the first Prime Ministerial visit from India after Indira Gandhi’s trip in 1973.  Modi’s visit had helped generate business worth more than 1.6 billion Canadian dollars (Rs7,944 crore), according to official figures released by the government then. Similarly, in March, Modi became the first Indian Prime Minister to travel to Seychelles in last 33 years.

In August 2015, he was the first again in the last 34 years to visit UAE. Modi addressed a gathering of around 50,000 Indians at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium there and his 75-minute speech ended with the entire crowd chanting “Bharat Mata ki Jai”.

Though Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s foreign trips have often become a point of contention for the opposition to target him, his continued endeavour is to position himself as a global statesman and India as a soft power that is democratic at heart and multi-cultural in spirit.

Reports say Anil Ambani wrote a letter to Rahul Gandhi explaining Rafale deal, was saddened by allegations

Business Tycoon Anil Ambani has reportedly written a letter to Rahul Gandhi over the allegations made by him and his party on the Rafale deal. According to reports, Ambani has refuted Rahul’s claim that Ambani’s company, Reliance Defence lacks any experience and has asserted that the central government had no role to play in French company Dassault signing the deal with Reliance Defence to be its local partner.

The letter, which was reportedly written on December 12, 2017, reminds Rahul Gandhi of the ‘respectful relationship’ the Ambani family had with the Gandhi family for long years and states that Ambani has been ‘personally saddened’ by the unfortunate comments the Gandhi scion has made for the Ambanis and their company.


The letter further states that not only does Reliance have the necessary experience but they are the leaders in several areas of defence manufacturing. Ambani states that Reliance has the largest private shipyard in Pipavav, Gujrat and is currently building five Naval Offshore Patrol Vessels (NPOV) for the Indian Navy and 14 Fast Patrol Vessels for the Indian Coast Guard. He stated that the Reliance Defence shipyard was the only shipyard in the region selected by the US Navy for maintenance of over a 100 ships from the 7th fleet.

Explaining the Rafale deal, Ambani has reportedly stated that all the 36 aircraft are being manufactured in France and will be delivered to India on a ‘fly away’ basis directly from the Dassault manufacturing facilities in France to the Indian Air Force. He reminded Rahul that the Rafale deal is a deal between two governments and is signed between the two countries.

Ambani has reportedly explained that Dassault’s deal with Reliance Defence was for making components and weapons systems for the aerospace sectors and it involves technology transfer. Ambani has added that the deal between the two companies and it will lead to the creation of thousands of new jobs in India, it will provide new skill development opportunities to Indian engineers and will benefit hundreds of MSMEs and SMEs in India.

Congress and its President Rahul Gandhi have been incessantly attacking the central government over the Rafale deal. Rahul Gandhi had even lied on the floor of the parliament while claiming the French President told him that there is no confidentiality clause in the deal, which the French authorities immediately denied in an official statement.

Yesterday it was also revealed by news reports that the NDA Rafale deal has cost Rs 60 crores less per aircraft than the UPA deal.

Indian Express displays wrong map, shows Pakistan Occupied Kashmir as part of Pakistan

Elections are being held in Pakistan, which can be called a sham at best. With global terrorist Hafiz Saeed coming out to vote to ‘strengthen democracy’, Pakistan is perhaps never been a greater joke ever before.

A section of Indian media, however, has been extremely enthusiastic about the Pakistani elections. Indian Express, which published the famed terror sympathising headline “And They Hanged Yakub” (When terrorist Yakub Memon was hanged to death for his role in the Parliament attack after due process of the law), has done it again by displaying a distorted map where they seem to have treacherously conceded the part of Indian Kashmir illegally occupied by Pakistan.


The map of Pakistan used by Indian Express in their tweet clearly includes part of Indian state of Kashmir which has been illegally occupied by Pakistan.

To explain better, the following is the real map of Kashmir. In the map, one can clearly see the “Northern Areas – Illegally incorporated with Pakistan”. That is the part of Kashmir which Indian Express has displayed as a part of Pakistan.

Incidentally, Indian Express seems to be in the habit of misrepresenting the map of India and showing Illegally occupied PoK as Pakistan’s territory. We found this article from 14th May 2017 where they had made the same error.

The mistake didn’t escape the netizens either who lashed out at Indian Express and demanded action against the agency.


One wonders if the government will take action on the media house for this grave misrepresentation.

Indian Railways introduces first of its kind non-AC coaches fitted with solar panels

The Indian Railways has introduced the first of its kind non-AC coaches which come fitted with solar panels, which will be used to operate lights fans and mobile charging points, Times of India has reported.

These coaches were inaugurated by railway board member Ravindra Gupta, and are part of India Railway Organisation for Alternate Fuels (IROAF)’s initiative, which also saw the installation of solar panels on Diesel Multiple Unit (DMU) trains last year.

According to the report, the solar panel’s installation is expected to save about Rs 3 crore for the railways over a 25 year period. The installation of these panel has cost Railways about Rs 3.90 lakh. These panels are expected to produce about 17 units of power everyday.

As per a Tribune report, the solar panel affixed coaches have already been put into commission by being attached to the Rewari – Sitapur passenger train. It is expected that such coaches would also be fitted to Taj Express and  Shan-e-Punjab Express in the near future.

According to a Financial Times report, three more passenger trains have been earmarked for being fitted with solar panels, owing to their batteries failing to charge properly, due to low running speed. These three trains are Varanasi – Lucknow passenger via Pratapgarh, Lucknow – Varanasi passenger via Faizabad and Varanasi – Lucknow Intercity Express.

Incidentally Indian Railways’ solar push isn’t limited to solar panels on coaches, and includes introducing a solar policy to harness about 1000 MW solar power. This includes installing solar panels on station rooftops and railway crossings.

TDP to move privilege motion against PM Modi and Piyush Goyal: Reports

As per reports, the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) is expected to move a privilege motion against Prime Minister Modi, and the Union Minister Piyush Goyal on an allegation that the two ‘mislead the House’ on their demands for a Special Category Status (SCS) to the state of Andhra.

It was reported, that the privilege motion was asked to be moved by TDP’s Chandrababu Naidu who told his MPs to imply that PM Modi had ‘misused his position of privilege’ by lying to people about Andhra Pradesh’s needs for an SCS.

Following the Centre’s refusal to grant special category status to Andhra Pradesh, the TDP quit the NDA, citing the exact reason being spoken about now.

In the recent no-confidence motion debate against his government, PM Modi replied to the TDP’s SCS demands, by quoting the 14th Finance Commission to claim that there was no way to grant a special category status to Andhra Pradesh.

Quoting an earlier speech made by Jayadev Galla, the BJP cited Article 4 which made clear, that parliament could grant an SCS if it felt the need to, and that the BJP was simply being unfair to their state. However, the TDP seems far from impressed by the PM’s response.

Addressing the Rajya Sabha after the no-confidence motion debate Piyush Goyal said: “The Centre has an open mind. We are willing to consider in a rational manner how these issues can be resolved so that the letter and spirit is adhered to. The purpose is that the people of AP should get the benefit and that the Modi government is fully committed to…”. He, too, was discouraged by the TDP because they deemed the statements to be ‘vague’ and ‘directionless’, as they believed that their demands were for tangible and ‘specific’ actions while uplifting Andhra. They called the BJP’s position a ‘misinterpretation of the commission’, and thus held PM Modi and Piyush Goyal accountable for their statements in the Rajya Sabha.

It must be understood that a privilege motion is a notice by any member of either House, against any person accused of breaching their position of privilege.

‘Parliamentary privileges’ are certain rights that are only granted to MPs, MLAs and MLCs, just so that they can effectively carry out their responsibilities. When any of these rights and immunities are violated, the offence is termed a ‘breach of privilege’ and can be punished.

However, the questions regarding the Special Category Status demands were quite intriguing regardless of the Privilege motion. The chain of events saw even the Former Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh siding with the TDP, when he said he made a “solemn commitment” on the floor of the House as Prime Minister, on a special category status to the “successor state of Andhra Pradesh” only after discussing the issue with Arun Jaitley.

But it is well worth noting that, the BJP reiterated their position in the Lok Sabha, in the Rajya Sabha too: saying that they were crippled by the 14th Finance Commission, and at the same time, that they held an optimistic attitude towards Andhra, by wanting to do much more than has been done, as said by Rajnath Singh and Prime Minister Modi.

The Telugu Desam Party, on the other hand, appears to seek every platform possible, to express their views on what they call, “an injustice to Andhra”. Even while addressing the Lower House on the no-confidence motion, they suggested that the motion was nothing but a means to find out the “Prime Minister’s thoughts on what is being done to Andhra”. And so, this time too, it is very possible that the TDP thinks of the ‘Privilege Motion’ as a means to hear the answers they did not get in the Lok Sabha, from PM Modi.

Earlier, Congress, too, had decided to move a privilege motion against PM Modi on Rafale, even as proof of signing of a confidentiality agreement by Congress government itself emerged.